As we roll toward the opening of free agency this evening there isn’t quite the anticipation there was a year ago when the Bears had a handful of players entering the open market. The action started with the team doing what it could to keep wide receiver Bernard Berrian. When that mission failed, the Bears put the squeeze on linebacker Lance Briggs, getting him to return at their price while some key role players (who were missed last season) departed in special teamer Brendon Ayanbadejo and tight end John Gilmore.
There just won’t be that kind of drama this weekend, at least not that we see right now peering into our crystal ball. A phone call to Miss Cleo might confirm our hunch. It’s important as we move forward to take stock of where the team is right now with the salary cap. We’ve reviewed the information when it comes to the 2009 salary cap, which was referenced in this story today, and have the cap numbers for projected starters. This provides an idea how the Bears have budgeted and where they’re at. It’s similar in many ways to how the money was distributed last season.
Brian Urlacher has the highest cap figure on the team at $10,185,505. In fact, Urlacher combined with Tommie Harris at $9,090,000 come in at $19,275,505, a little less than $3 million shy of the projected offensive starters as a whole. That was one of the questions we wanted to get to with general manager Jerry Angelo last weekend in Indianapolis–would he do the Urlacher $18 million extension over again given the chance? We fell short in that mission and that’s a question for another day and a post for another day as well. Here are the numbers:
Salary cap figures for projected 2009 starters
Offense
WR Devin Hester $6,885,833
C Olin Kreutz $4,133,333
TE Desmond Clark $2,174,446
LT Chris Williams $1,883,530
WR Rashied Davis $1,581,666
RG Roberto Garza $1,565,000
QB Kyle Orton $1,420,000
FB Jason McKie $995,000
RB Matt Forte $775,613
LG Josh Beekman $565,405
Right tackle ?
Total $21,979,826
Defense
MLB Brian Urlacher $10,185,505
DT Tommie Harris $9,090,000
WLB Lance Briggs $6,766,666
DE Adewale Ogunleye $6,465,576
CB Nathan Vasher $4,866,666 or CB Corey Graham $504,655
CB Charles Tillman $4,716,666
DE Alex Brown $2,884,594
DT Anthony Adams $1,087,500
SS Kevin Payne $504,780
FS Craig Steltz $503,756
SLB Nick Roach $460,000
Total with Vasher $47,531,709
Total with Graham $43,169,698